“People are hard to hate close up. Move in.”
—Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness
Abandoning hatred allows, or rather, demands a look closer at the lives and experiences of people who have beliefs much different than our own. Can I really be a good person because I’m compassionate and then decide that someone else is less human for lacking compassion? How much have I truly understood?
Clinging to hatred, we’re debilitating an important process that needs to work in order for the soul to expand and grow. This process is all about pain: noticing it in ourselves, and noticing where it originates in other people. When I truly know the story and heartbreaks of another human, it’s hard to not regard them and hold them with deep compassion.
While our thoughts, actions and origins of belief are different, is my pain more special than your pain? What ills and challenges could be addressed with education? With love? As we grow, contemplate and journey toward our own openness and healing, this imaginary dividing line seems to be the greatest impediment.
—Jessica Lien, Prairiewoods development coordinator